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| The fire of God falls on the altar in the Tabernacle |
How can we
cultivate something pure in a corrupt world—if we ourselves are not pure? How can we cultivate something holy if we
ourselves are not holy? Because that’s
what God is asking us to do: to bring
the presence of a holy God into our lives and into our corporate life together,
into our church.
But this is
a scary thing. Why? Because we are unworthy. As the centurion said to Jesus, “Lord, I am not worthy for you to come under
my roof...” (Matt. 8:8). That’s
true. We are not worthy. But that’s what God wants to do. He wants to come into our lives and live with us here—every day, every hour.
So there’s
two ways of looking at what happened to Ananias and Sapphira: one is how scary it would be for God to be
that powerfully present that something like that could happen; the other is to
realize how awesome it must have been for God to be so powerfully present that
this could happen. No wonder so many
miracles were taking place among them.
God was present in an amazingly powerful way. It was what we call a revival today. And it was certainly one of the most amazing moves
of God in all of history: thousands were
being saved (“So then, those who had
accepted his message were baptized and about three thousand souls were added
that day,” Acts 2:41, also 4:4). Many
miracles and healings were taking place (“But
every soul was filled with fear, and many miracles and signs were taking place
through the apostles,” Acts 2:43, also 5:12). They were selling their belongings and
sharing with believers that were poor (Acts 2:45; 4:34,35). God was moving!
And all
the sick were being healed—just like with Jesus (“But the people of the cities all around Jerusalem were also coming
together, bringing the sick and those afflicted by unclean spirits, who were all
being healed,” Acts 5:16). Yet all
this happened in a time of persecution:
Jesus had been killed, Peter and John were arrested and jailed more than
once. The apostles were given a beating,
a whipping, by the court. Stephen and
later James was killed. God was really
stirring things up—and so of course the devil got angry! But in the meanwhile, many, many souls were
being touched and saved for eternity.
It’s wonderful
to come into the presence of the living God.
But it’s also dangerous! Look at
what happened to Korah and the others in the desert in the time of Moses (Num.
16), or even earlier to Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10). This was when God was moving among the
children of Israel in the desert. They
had just set up the Tabernacle, and the glory of God appeared like a cloud so
strong they couldn’t enter the Tabernacle (“And
Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting for the cloud had settled on it
and the glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle,” Exo. 40:35). How amazing was that!
When Moses
and Aaron offered a sacrifice, fire from God fell and consumed the sacrifice (“And fire went out from before the LORD, and
consumed the whole burnt offerings on the altar and the fat, and all the people
shouted out and they fell on their faces,” Lev. 9:24). These were incredible miracles that God was
doing.
But just
after that Nadab and Abihu, two of the sons of Aaron, decided to bring incense
before the Lord to worship the Lord (“And
the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, each took his firepan, and they put fire in
them and placed incense on it, and they brought forbidden fire before the LORD
which he had not commanded them,” Lev. 10:1). The firepans were little flat metal shovels
that they filled with burning coals and then poured powdered incense over the
hot coals.
Sounds good,
right? They’re going to worship
God. But they didn’t do it the way God
said they were supposed to. And so what
happened? “And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and
they died before the LORD” (Lev. 10:2).
They were struck down dead!
Why? They were worshipping the
Lord! They were burning incense to the
Lord! But they didn’t do it the way God
commanded.
What had
they done wrong? The burning coals for
the incense were supposed to come from the altar of sacrifice, whose fire had
been lit by God himself (Lev. 16:12). This was a symbol and a teaching that true worship starts and ends with God. You can't worship with just any fire, as they did. Firepans were only for the Day of Atonement, when the high priest entered alone into the Holy of Holies, after careful preparation for coming so close to the presence of God (Lev. 16:12,13). Otherwise, incense
was only offered on the altar of incense in the Tabernacle, twice a day (Exo.
30:7,8). But this wasn’t one of those times.
They were coming to worship God, but they completely ignored all of the
instructions he had given about how that was to be done. And in the presence of a holy God, this means
trouble. What can we learn from this? That even if you are worshipping God, but you
don’t do it the way God wants it to be done, even that act of worship can be a sin. And if you are in the immediate presence of
God, it can destroy you.
This was the
problem faced by King Saul, when he went to war against the Amalekites. God had told him to utterly destroy Amalek (1
Sam. 15:3). They were under the ban, the
herem of God. This meant everything was to be destroyed,
all the people, all their belongings, just like in the time of Joshua (Josh.
6:17-7:15). Everything was to be devoted
to the Lord. This, by the way, is a
prophetic picture of what will happen when Jesus returns: the complete destruction of the wicked (“...and destroyed them all. It will be just the same way on the day the
Son of Man is revealed,” Luke 17:26-30).
But Saul
didn’t obey the Lord, and took spoil from the battle: sheep and goats, fruit and vineyards (1 Sam.
15:9). He also spared Agag, the king of
the Amalekites. When the prophet Samuel
met Saul at Gilgal, he asked him where all the animals came from (1 Sam. 15:14). Saul said that they had spared them to
sacrifice them to the Lord (1 Sam. 15:15).
They were going to use them to worship God. Good, right?
That’s when
Samuel said, “Is there as much delight
for the LORD in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of
the LORD? Look, obeying is better than
sacrifice, and to pay attention than the fat of rams” (1 Sam. 15:22). Because of this, Saul was rejected by God (1
Sam. 15:26). Worship brings no pleasure
to the Lord if you are not obedient to his commands. And there are many, many other examples like
this in the Bible.
So what about
Christians who worship idols? They say
they’re Christian. They’re worshipping
God. But are they doing what God told
us to do? God said that we must not make
an idol or worship an idol (“You will not
make for yourself an idol, and any image that is in the heavens above and that
is on the earth below and that is in the waters under the earth, them you will
not worship, and you will not serve them; for I am the LORD your God,” Exo.
20:4,5; and in the New Testament Acts 15:20,29; 1 Cor. 5:10,11, 6:9, 10:7,14; 2 Cor. 6:16; Gal.
5:20; Eph. 5:5; 1 Pet. 4:3; 1 John 5:21; and Rev. 21:8,15). Yet they continue to do what God commanded
them not to do. Do you think God is
pleased with this? If you invite a holy
and living God into your life, or into your church, or into your nation, but
you don’t do it God’s way, it can have serious consequences. What you think is leading to spiritual life
can actually be leading you to spiritual death.
Look at what
Peter said in 2 Peter 2:20,21 : “For if, having escaped from the defiling
deeds [the sins] of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus the
Messiah, but then again are entangled by these [sins] and defeated [by them],
the last situation is worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them not
to know the Way of righteousness than having known it to turn back from the
holy commandment that was delivered to them.” It would have been better for them not to
know the gospel! Why? Because once you know what’s right, and you
don’t do it or you turn away from it, you incur a greater guilt than someone
who didn’t know.
Just look at
what’s happening in America right now!
It used to be a godly nation, but now it’s turning from God, even in many of the churches. So the word of God says, it would have been
better for them never to have known God.
Why? Because now they’re in a
much more dangerous situation.
As Hebrews
puts it: “For it is impossible for those who, having once been enlightened, and
having tasted the heavenly gift, and having become partakers of a holy Spirit, and
having tasted the good word of God and the powers of a coming age, and who have
turned away, to restore them again to repentance as they are again themselves crucifying
the Son of God and putting him to shame” (Heb. 6:4-6). How do they crucify Jesus by turning away
from him? How do they expose him to
shame? Because they have the name of
Christian, they have the name of Christ, but now they are dragging that name
through the mud. They are humiliating
the name of Jesus all over again.
Look what
happened even to Moses: he struck the
rock instead of speaking to the rock. It
seems like such a little thing. But for
this he was not allowed to enter the Promised Land (“But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you have not believed
me, to treat me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall
not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them,’” Num.
20:12). That’s quite a penalty! For one mistake!
Asking God
to come into your life, to come into your assembly, is dangerous stuff! It’s dangerous to come close to the living
God! Look at what happened to Israel every
time they turned away from God—terrible wars and disasters and exiles over and
over again through the years. If God is
with you, but you don’t do it God’s way:
look out. If you’re going to
invite a holy and living God into your midst, and into your life, you had
better be careful to do it the right way—to do it his way.
What do you
think all those rituals were for in the Tabernacle and in the Temple? To deal with sin right away so that the
holiness of God wouldn’t either a) leave you or b) break out against you and destroy
you. And the chances that he will leave
you are pretty small, because he’s a jealous God. Have you ever had a jealous boyfriend or
girlfriend? That’s nothing.
God says, “I am the LORD your God, a jealous god,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their sons [i.e. punishing them], on
the third generation, and on the fourth generation to those who hate me”
(Exo. 20:5). What does this mean? For those who hate God, their punishment will
continue to the third and fourth generation.
How can God do that? I thought he
only punished the guilty. Well as it
says here, this is for those who hate God.
When they pass on that hate to their children and grandchildren, the
children and grandchildren will get the same punishment, too.
But for
those who love God: “and showing lovingkindness for thousands (of generations) to those who
love me and keep my commandments” (Exo. 20:6). Once
he claims you for his own, he’s not going to let you go easily. He is faithful to his covenants. He is faithful to his promises.
If you
didn’t know it before, you do now: that
when you became a Christian, you entered a covenant. You know that, right? What we call the New Testament is
called in the Bible itself a New Covenant (“and to the mediator of a new covenant, Jesus, and to the sprinkled
blood that speaks better than the blood of Abel,” Heb. 12:24). A covenant is a specially important agreement
or contract. And this New Covenant is a
blood covenant. Do you know what that
means? Do you know what a blood covenant
is?
Abraham made
a blood covenant with God. This was
right after he had believed God, and God counted it as righteousness (“And he believed in the LORD; and he reckoned
it to him as righteousness,” Gen. 15:6).
This is why the New Testament says he is our father in the faith: because he believed God. He was made righteous by faith, just like we
are. So how did he enter a covenant with
God?
“So he said to him, ‘Bring me a
three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old
ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.’
Then he brought all these to him and cut them in two, and laid each half
opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds” (Gen. 15:9,10). The custom was to cut the animals right down
the middle from front to back. Then they
laid the halves in two rows. What was
the purpose of this? Ordinarily, if it
was two people making a covenant, the two people would walk together between
the two rows of cut open animals. And
they would say something like, “May the same happen to me (as happened to these
animals) if I do not fulfill my words to you.” A blood covenant means that if you don’t keep your
covenant promises, your blood will be shed. And
many times the other party would come and kill you if you broke your covenant
promises.
Abraham made
a blood covenant with God. So did the
children of Israel in the time of Moses.
How did that happen? It was after
they arrived at Mt. Sinai. They had
already seen all the wonderful things God was doing for them. He had already sent the plagues against
Egypt. He had already parted the Sea for
them. He had already brought them safely
across the desert. He had spoken the Ten
Commandments to them from the top of the mountain. Then they made a covenant together. How did they do that?
Exo. 24:4-8: “And he
[Moses] arose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the
mountain and twelve standing stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the sons of Israel,
and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings
to the LORD. And Moses took half of the
blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the
altar. Then he took the book of the
covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, ‘All that the
LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!’ And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on
the people, and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has
made with you in accordance with all these words.’” This was a blood covenant.
Why were so
many killed later when they worshipped the golden calf or did other things that
God told them not to do? They broke a blood
covenant. When you break a blood
covenant, you die.
Our covenant
with Jesus is also a blood covenant.
What did he say on the night of his last Passover to his disciples? “And
having taken a cup and given thanks, he gave it to them saying, ‘Drink from it,
all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant which is being poured
out for many for the forgiveness of sins’” (Matt. 26:27,28). Our covenant with Jesus is a blood
covenant.
And what was
the promise he made that night? “But I say to you, I will not drink of this
fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my
Father's kingdom” (Matt. 26:29).
This is in the form of a Nazirite vow, a very serious vow, after which
you wouldn’t drink any wine for a certain length of time, and you separated
yourself to God (Num. 6:1-21). And what
was Jesus’ promise? Even though he died
the next morning, we are going to see him and drink with him again in the
kingdom of his Father. He is setting
himself aside for a while, as a Nazirite, but he will be back again, with us, in
the kingdom of his Father. That means he
will be there and it also means we will be there. That’s quite a promise. It’s a promise of resurrection. And it’s a promise sealed with his
blood. We’re in a blood covenant with
Jesus. And he is going to do everything
that he promised to do. He is faithful
to fulfill his part of the covenant.
But what
about us? Are we fulfilling our part of
the covenant? And what about the Body of
Messiah, is it fulfilling its part of the covenant? Why do I say it this way? Because the New Covenant is a covenant made
with all of God’s people, of which we are a part. Remember, Jesus told them all to drink
the cup. When we celebrate communion, we
all drink together. The blood of Jesus
was shed for all of us, together as a group; all who believe in Jesus.
One of the
lies of our modern age is that religion is something personal and private. But that’s really not true, and never has
been. When you become a believer, you do
the public act of baptism for all the world to see. And when you live your life as a believer,
it’s out there for everyone to see.
That’s the
whole idea of being a witness, being a testimony: “Rather
you (all) will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you (all), and you
will (all) be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and all of Judea and Samaria and
to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Notice, it doesn’t say anything about having a witness or having
a testimony. It says being a
witness and being a testimony.
In the book
of Acts, their lives were a witness right out there in public, healing the sick,
doing miracles, and showing they were different by the way they treated each other
and others with so much love and care.
Nobody could miss that. Our lives,
too, are right out there in public, where all the world can see. What we do as a church is public. People are watching. That’s our testimony—even more, that’s God’s
testimony to the world: how we
live and what we do tells people what God is like. That’s scary!
And that’s why God wants to make sure we don’t mess it up. He wants us to do it the right way, so we
send the right message.
Worship
alone is not what he wants. What he
wants is the right kind of worship done the right way. As Jesus said, worship will no longer be in
Jerusalem, but in spirit and truth (“Jesus
said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this
mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father.... Rather the hour is
coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit
and truth; for the Father is seeking such people, those who worship him,’” John
4:21,23). The place is not what’s
important. But the attitude of our hearts
is very important. Those who worship the
Father are the ones that worship him in spirit and truth. Otherwise, you’re not doing it the right way.
There’s been
a lot of focus in recent years on worshipping in the Spirit. But unless that’s matched with truth, that’s
not it. Truth means that the spirit you
worship in and live in is holy. Truth
means that you don’t just say you are obedient to Jesus, but that you watch
your life to make sure you’re actually being obedient to Jesus. You look out for that beam in your own eye
(Matt. 7:3). And when you find it, you
take it out. When you find sin in your
life, you deal with it, you oppose it, you resist it, you repent of it. You do whatever it takes to get rid of it,
even if it takes years of struggle. You
don’t give up. Why? Because we are called to live holy, and Jesus
has promised to give us the victory. In
Christ, we overcome the world. With
God’s help, we are winning the war over our flesh.
Prayer alone
is not what God wants. What he wants is
prayer done the right way. How did Jesus
teach us to pray? “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in the heavens, may your
name be made holy....’” (Matt. 6:9).
Jesus taught us to pray to the Father.
Why is this important? We don't always fully know why things are important to God. But our first
reaction should be to humble ourselves and obey him. That’s the reaction of an obedient heart,
right? “Yes, Lord.” Remember, we’re in a blood covenant with God
to obey God.
But once
we’ve got that settled, then it’s fine to ask why. Sometimes we’ll get the answer, sometimes we
won’t. So what does it mean, that we
should pray to the Father? It means that
for us, just like with Jesus, the focus of everything should be on the
Father. Remember, he told us to “Pray to your Father who is in secret...” (“But you,
when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray
to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward
you,” Matt. 6:6). Does that mean
we’re slighting Jesus when we pray to the Father and not to him, as some people
think? But how can you be slighting
Jesus when you’re obeying him? Sure,
praying to Jesus sounds spiritual, just like praying to Mary sounds spiritual. But he didn’t tell us to do that. He told us to pray to the Father in heaven.
Why? Jesus intercedes for us with the Father (“who is also at the right hand of God, and
who is interceding for us,” Rom. 8:34, also 1 Tim. 2:5). What does that mean? It means that the one the prayer is going to
is the Father. Jesus is our high priest,
bringing our prayers to the Father. The
Father decides what to do about it. So
if the Father is the one who decides, of course we should pray to him.
But what
about John 14:14, where Jesus said: “If you ask me anything in my name, I
will do it”? Let’s read that in
Chinese: “if you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” There’s no “me”! Why is that?
Because many manuscripts don’t have the “me.” In fact, some manuscripts don’t even have
this verse. So what should we do about
this verse, which is the only verse in the Bible that says we should pray to
Jesus—though only sometimes and in some versions? We should follow what Jesus said over and
over and over and over again in undisputed parts of the Bible: we should pray to the Father.
But at the
same time, we should pray in Jesus name, which he also said over and over. “You did
not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear
fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the
Father in my name, he may give to you” (John 15:16). We come to the Father through Jesus. He is our intercessor.
So why do so
many pray to Jesus, when this is not what he told us to do? A lot of it is because of the doctrinal
controversies in the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries. Because so many were teaching that Jesus was
not God, the church became very concerned about anything that seemed to
diminish Jesus. But to explain that
Jesus was God within the world view of Greek philosophy, which was the accepted
worldview of most people at the time, was not easy. So in the end, they removed a lot of the
distinctions between the Father and the Son that we find in the Bible.
This
preserved the divinity of Jesus. But it
made it more difficult to understand the Biblical differences between the
Father and the Son. So over the years,
people began to get the two mixed up in their minds. For many, there was no real difference
between the Father and the Son other than the names “Father” and “Son.” This is still the way it is for many people
today.
That’s what
happened. But what should we do about it? Obey Jesus!
Jesus also
said to avoid unnecessarily long prayers (“But
when you are praying, don’t babble on and on, as the Gentiles do, for they
suppose that because of their many words they will be heard,” Matt. 6:7). God can hear us perfectly well if it’s short. “So
don’t be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask him”
(Matt. 6:8). The Father already knows
what we need. And so it goes. These are only a few of the many commandments in
the New Covenant.
The point is
that Jesus wants us to do everything according to the New Covenant. Why?
Why does everything have to be done in just the right way? So that God himself, God the Holy Spirit can
come and live in us as the Church, without destroying us on one hand, or having
to leave on the other. We are to be a
dwelling place of God, a Temple of God, so that through us, God can reach out
to people, not only with signs and wonders but also with his love and his truth.
We are God’s
testimony to a lost and dying world. God
says to the world about us, ‘These are my people: this is what life with me is like.’ Of course, they can’t see everything that God
is doing in our lives until God opens their eyes. But they can see a lot. They can see if we’re living according to our
profession, or if we’re just a lot of hot air.
Do we do what we say? Do we live the
way we’re supposed to? People can tell
quite a bit about that. Are we living
according to our covenant? Are we
different than the world, is there a holiness in our lives? Or are we just like the world—or worse, are
we hypocrites, saying one thing and doing another; saying religious things but
living just like the world?
Is there
really a God? The world is looking at
you for the answer. They’re thinking
about you when they’re thinking about God—just as people once looked at Jesus to
see if what he said about God was true.
Is it really like he says, that there’s a true and living God and that
he loves us that much? Is it really like
Jesus said, that the father comes running to meet the prodigal son when he
decides to return home (Luke 15:20)? Is
that really what God is like? Is there
really hope for me?
This world
has so bitterly disappointed so many people.
So many are afraid to trust anymore.
And even many who name the name of Jesus have closed themselves off
because they’ve been hurt or disappointed, sometimes by other believers. They’ve stopped trusting. They’ve stopped hoping. But then we come into their lives. What will they see? Will they see something different than the
world? Will they see something
pure? Will they see something holy? Will they see God moving in our lives in
spirit and in truth?
Let’s
pray. Father God, we’re not worthy to
represent you to the world. We’re not
worthy to be your vessels in this lost and dying world. But you have chosen us, you have called
us. We have been marked with the blood
of the Lamb. We have been sealed with
the seal of the Holy Spirit. We’re in a
holy covenant with you, a blood covenant.
Open our eyes Lord to see you in every part of our lives, not just our
private lives, but also our public lives.
Open our hearts to trust you in every part of our lives, open our minds
to understand your way and your plan for every part of our lives. And help us to be obedient, Lord, so your
Holy Spirit can dwell here, in our lives and in our church. In Jesus’ name.
